Electric Fields of the Brain

The Neurophysics of EEG

Paul L. Nunez and Ramesh Srinivasan

The authors pursue the Holy Grail of connecting psychology to physiology with rigorous scientific methods

Constructs a solid theoretical foundation for future EEG work

Also has impact in the new field of (scientific) consciousness studies

Principles of electric fields in living tissue described in this book will be just as valid in 100 years as they are today

Electric Fields of the Brain

The Neurophysics of EEG

Second Edition

Paul L. Nunez and Ramesh Srinivasan

Description

Electroencephalography (EEG) is practiced by neurologists, cognitive neuroscientists, and others interested in functional brain imaging. Whether for clinical or experimental purposes, all studies share a common purpose-to relate scalp potentials to the underlying neurophysiology. Electrical potentials on the scalp exhibit spatial and temporal patterns that depend on the nature and location of the sources and the way that currents and fields spread through tissue. Because these dynamic patterns are correlated with behavior and cognition, EEG provides a "window on the mind," correlating physiology and psychology. This classic and widely acclaimed text, originally published in 1981, filled the large gap between EEG and the physical sciences. It has now been brought completely up to date and will again serve as an invaluable resource for understanding the principles of electric fields in living tissue and for using hard science to study human consciousness and cognition. No comparable volume exists for it is no easy task to explain the problems of EEG in clear language, with mathematics presented mainly in appendices. Among the many topics covered by the Second Edition are micro and meso (intermediate scale) synaptic sources, electrode placement, choice of reference, volume conduction, power and coherence measures, projection of scalp potentials to dura surface, dynamic signatures of conscious experience, neural networks immersed in global fields of synaptic action, and physiological bases for brain source dynamics. The Second Edition is an invaluable resource for neurologists, neuroscientists (especially cognitive neuroscientists), biomedical engineers, and their students and trainees. It will also appeal to physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, psychiatrists, and industrial engineers interested in EEG.

Electric Fields of the Brain

The Neurophysics of EEG

Second Edition

Paul L. Nunez and Ramesh Srinivasan

Reviews and Awards

From published reviews of the first edition

"This volume fills an urgent need. It brings together the encephalographer and the physicist and enlightens both. It belongs on the bookshelf of anyone working in the broad and burgeoning field of neuroscience. Reginald G. Bickford is fully justified when he predicts in a brief foreword that the book will become a classic in the field." --Physics Today

"Has considerable value in its presentation of clinical, theoretical, and speculative information regarding electrical potentials developed in the brain and their recording . . . a substantive addition to the library of the physician or scientist . . ." --JAMA

"Unique and important for a number of reasons, the most compelling of which is that for the first time a physicist with much practical experience with EEGs has set out to 'tell the whole EEG story' . . . a fine reference suitable as a textbook for a graduate level course on the EEG in a physiology or engineering department. Clinical neurologists specializing in epilepsy will find chapter six on EEG recording . . . and chapter seven on EEG analysis most valuable. The practical discussion on the choice of a reference electrode . . . is itself worth many times the price of the book." --Alan S. Gevins in Epilepsia